Contemplative, reactive, proactive... which works for you?

Hello Gardengrrl, It's good to see you back with us. How's your near S.I.L.? Hope all is progressing well with her. Anyway, to your current discussion. Hmmm, someone's had their contemplative thinking cap on, eh? I know that this is probably going to be received as annoying, but if I may ... I'd like to suggest that I don't think that someone can be pro-active without being, at least somewhat contemplative first. Not that I want to change you designations, because I find them very insightful. However, it seems to me that most people will be a combination of all three. Personally, I am quite instinctive when it comes to emergencies. As for the rest of life, I believe that most people who know me would define me as a 'do-er', or proactive. Yet, one cannot do unless they've first contemplated their options. So, I would have to say that I'm proactive, with heavy emphasis on short-term contemplation, with a healthy does of gut thrown into the mix. Hey, am I going to get penalized for trying to skirt the rules? I got called out on another great topic for trying to pull a Captain Kirk ... which, it seems, is what I'm doing here as well. Oops! A gold star for gardengrrl's calm, contemplative question!!!

Without a doubt I'm reactive. I don't often use tact as it's something I have to think about to use and I'm ever so honest and quite frankly, blunt. when shopping, I'm an impulse buyer. I walk through aisles and whatever calls to me, I end up buying. I make decisions based on imulse and reactions and not based on thoughts or future consequences. I find nothing wrong with the way I work and I can't think far enough into the future to be proactive and I just don't care enough to be contemplative!

In general I would say I am contemplative. I tend to think about things and examine all the pros and cons for a long while before making any decisions. I'm not indecisive as such - once I've made up my mind I stick to it - but I don't like leaping into things wthout thinking carefully first. I'm very logical and pretty cool-headed, and certainly not the kind of person who loses my temper or gets hysterical about anything, so I guess I'm the calm, cool, contemplative one. Interesting discission - thanks.

I guess I'm one of the odd few that don't fit into one or the other. As I was reading through the options I thought I fit the contemplative category but then I got to proactive and I thought I fit tat also. It depends on the situation at hand. My s/o is definitely the reactive type. It doesn't really work for him because he is also a procrastinator. I keep trying to steer him towards being proactive but I really don't think it's actually possible to change another person's personality like that.